2018 was a record-breaking year for the Blue Signal team. We worked on 400+ jobs, made 119 placements, doubled our team size, expanded offices and moved our company headquarters all while exceeding our company goals. At the Blue Signal Summit held in Phoenix, Arizona, we talked extensively about goals – as individuals as well as a team. Next year, we plan to raise the bar even higher and expand our team once again.

None of the strides we have made as a company would have
been possible without the incredible efforts of our stellar team. Specifically,
our top performers. At the Summit, we gave special recognition to 3 notable
team members for their achievements.

Bryan O’Connor

Within his first year in the industry, Bryan was quickly promoted to Recruiting Manager. He has gone above and beyond in his efforts with candidates and clients. Bryan’s diligence throughout the year was reflected in his numbers. At the Summit, Senior Managing Partner Matt Walsh presented Bryan with an award for Top Cash-In in 2018.

Art Reed

Arthas been a mentor and driving cultural force of Blue Signal since he came on board. His voice and presence put a smile on the faces of clients, candidates and colleagues alike. He recently was given the well-deserved promotion to Managing Partner. His client and candidate advocacy and dedication earned him the title of Top Biller for 2018.

Lacey Walters

Lacey’s hard work, innovative nature, and ability to adapt to anything thrown her way led to her recent promotion to Director of Operations and the Blue Signal MVP Award for 2018. Her dedication to Blue Signal’s initiatives, clients, candidates, and operations have significantly impacted the results all recruiters and the firm have experienced in the last year.

These 3 individuals have truly exceeded all company goals
and the expectations of the organization. Whether it be weekends, nights,
holidays, or after hours, they have put their clients and candidates first.
Their hard work and attitude has helped make Blue Signal the best recruiting
firm on the planet. This candidate, client, and colleague first mentality
directly reflects Blue Signal’s ethics, and core values – which is why they are
not only impactful leaders in the company, but recipients of these prestigious
awards and true drivers of the Blue Signal cultural organization.

In 2019, we plan to keep up this trajectory and continue to
be the best recruiting firm in the space.
Blue Signal thanks each of these individuals for their hard work and
effort. We are excited about what 2019 and the future brings for each of them
as well as Blue Signal, our customers, and our clients.

On Wednesday night, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg ended days of silence on the social networking giant’s latest controversy that Cambridge Analytica absconded with the data of 50 million unsuspecting Facebook users, which Facebook knew about but kept secret. Zuckerberg gave apologetic interviews that night to CNN, Wired and the New York Times. But this is not the first run in with privacy protection issues that Facebook has been faulted with.

You may have heard about a quiz app built by a university researcher that leaked Facebook data of millions of people in 2014. Facebook stated they have already stopped apps like this from getting so much information. Now they claim to be limiting the amount of data apps get when you sign in using Facebook.

The FTC is now taking a closer look at Facebook to determine whether it has allowed third parties to violate user privacy as well.

So what can you do? If you'd like to keep your data from going through Facebook's API, you can take control of your privacy settings. Keep in mind that this disables ALL platform apps (like Farmville, Twitter, or Instagram) and you will not be able to log into sites using your Facebook login. In fact, if you are concerned with your information altogether you can join the likes of Jim Carey, Elon Musk and others and #DeleteFacebook. An alternative to that is to not log in to other applications using your Facebook account. Recognize the picture below, and have you ever logged into an application with Facebook? If yes it is possible your information was shared with other companies.

Note: there is another setting that can help: limiting the personal information accessible by apps that others use. By default, other people who can see your info can bring it with them when they use apps, and your info becomes available to those apps. You can limit this as follows.

From the same page, click "Edit" under "Apps Others Use." Then uncheck the types of information that you don't want others' apps to be able to access. For most people reading this post, that will mean unchecking every category. Then click "Save" and you are all set!

Heather has deep experience in technical recruiting. She began her recruiting career in 2003 and quickly rose to a top biller position with multiple awards for her speed and quality of hires. Since then, she has delivered top results as a recruiter within many different industries. She has additional experience consulting for multiple Fortune 500 firms and start-ups across many industries.

Her industry specialties include manufacturing, civil engineering, structural engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, mining, industrial engineering, construction, general business, and the renewable energy industry. She excels at filling positions for hard-to-find skills within niche markets and takes a creative approach to find the best solution for each client.

Christine began recruiting in 2015 and now specializes in executive placements. She has an extensive network within the healthcare industry, as well as temporary and permanent staffing. Christine’s industry specialties include cloud software, technology, and healthcare. She has expertise within CloudNet technology, IT, project management, accounting, and finance positions.

Heather and Christine are each joining the Blue Signal team as Senior Executive Recruiters. We look forward to working together with them to deliver the best available talent to our clients. Meet the rest of the Blue Signal team here.

These days, employers are searching for more than just a long resume and skill set. It is no longer just about what an employee can do, but also about how they do it and how they carry themselves while doing it. Companies are looking for specific characteristics to ensure they find the right person to help them succeed and develop the business. That’s where personality comes into play.

Here are six characteristics that employers agree make the most successful hires:

Cultural Fit

A cultural fit can be difficult to define, but everyone knows when it is missing. In essence, it means that employees’ expectations and actions are in alignment with their employer’s fundamental values. Personality can mean the difference between enjoying going to work every day and gaining a competitive advantage, or have the opposite effect and bring down company morale.

High Energy

Employees who come into work fresh and energetic everyday are always going to out produce workers who think negatively and easily burn-out when they are confronted with setbacks. A cheerful and optimistic hire creates a work climate that fosters new ideas, and is pleasant for other employees to be around.

Passion

Employers should focus on hiring someone who will enjoy the journey while pursuing that end-goal. Passion is what makes a company innovative, it is what provokes original ideas and what generates honesty and responsiveness among employees. Passionate employees believe in the work they do and have a vested interest in the advancement of their company. They know that the work they do helps to drive the company’s success.

Confidence

Confidence produces results and encourages employees to take on challenges that others shy away from. The best companies are highly confident in their abilities to provide superior services. A confident interviewer is the first display of leadership potential.

Autonomy

Employers look for this type of hire because it helps them to avoid unnecessary micromanaging. This employee does not need any hand-holding when executing tasks. The self-sufficient hire thrives at getting the job done without much direction, which makes them very popular among business owners.

Openness to new experiences

Openness to trying new things has been heavily associated with quality of life, level of happiness, and an overall positive effect. This employee cultivates the work environment with a high level of happiness because they are open and accepting of new challenges; this motivates other employees to be more accepting of challenging work as well.

The most suited character type will vary by industry, so whether you are a hiring manager or potential new hire, it is worth exploring what traits you or your company most commonly exhibit and try to line them up with your next career move or new hire.

Want to guarantee your next hire is a success? Contact us for a free consultation.

Whether it was expected or came as a surprise, losing a job is never welcome news. For most people, losing a job means also losing financial stability, pressure on savings accounts, and uncertainty. It’s easy to let emotions run wild and take over. Don’t lose hope. The last job is over, but the next opportunity is waiting. Here’s what to do once the bad news hits.

Don’t make a plan just yet.

Give yourself at least a few days to process the initial emotions. Everyone needs a different amount of time to recover. Some personalities love to rise to the challenge and throw themselves into job-searching right away. Other people don’t. Know yourself, but don’t give in to the temptation to let sadness take over your schedule. An old saying goes, “Don’t make promises when you’re celebrating, or decisions when you’re mourning.” Emotions can cloud your judgment, so let yourself process them before you leap into action.

Set a deadline that by the upcoming Monday, the Netflix binge ends and the full-time job search starts. Try to stick to the same schedule you had leading up to the termination. It’s easy to fall into a cycle of bad eating and crazy hours, but this will negatively impact discipline, energy levels, and motivation. Everyone keeps a schedule and meets deadlines as part of a job, so you can do it now as a job-searcher. And just like a real job, leave it behind at the end of the day. It’s not helpful to let job-search anxiety follow you everywhere you go. Find job-search resources here.

Set manageable goals, but re-evaluate them first.

Once the shock has faded, take a look back through old career goals. What was at the top of the list? Where are you in that trajectory? If you have never made a career plan, think about specific career goals for 5 years, 10 years, and retirement. Most people just want to make enough money to sustain their lifestyle; try to think beyond that point. What age do you want to retire at? Do you want to leave money to your kids, or a cause you believe in? What kind of difference do you want to make in the workplace?

Since employees are hanging onto their jobs longer, keep a long-term outlook. During a job search, short-term demands like bills and family create pressure to make a fast decision. In reality, a job search is an investment in the next five years of your life and livelihood. Making the right choice is just as important as taking care of immediate needs.

Quality over quantity.

During the 2008 recession, conventional wisdom said to send out thousands of applications to get a job. In reality, this is no longer a great search strategy. The best bet is to invest heavily in company research and target hiring managers with customized messages that revolve around your skills and their needs. Make it easy for them to see why they should consider extending an interview invitation. Update your LinkedIn to be keyword-heavy and focus on work achievements and skills, not just job history. Switch on the “Open to New Opportunities” function to help recruiters find you easier.

Reach out to your network.

Leverage your professional network where you can. This includes old bosses, coworkers, colleagues at other companies, customers, and anyone else who may have a connection. An easy way to start the conversation is just to let them know you lost your job, and ask if they would be willing to act as a reference during the interview process. This lets people know to keep their eyes out for opportunities that could be a fit. Be direct. Don’t beat around the bush when asking for favors. Be polite, and offer to reciprocate where possible.

The same goes for recruiters: get in touch with two or three carefully chosen ones within the right industry, rather than blasting thirty at a time. The best recruiters work on a carefully chosen portfolio of jobs, so they may not have something for you right away. If so, ask them for a recommendation for another recruiter, and move on. Look at their posted jobs beforehand, and contact them with the top few openings in mind.

Know that the job market is in your favor.

BLS reports that median job tenure has been increasing since 2000.

Our perception is that the labor market is unstable and that employers never hire anyone without years of experience. Many people also think that employees would never consider hiring anyone with a gap in their resume. The truth is that the job market has made big strides since the recession. Employees are keeping their jobs longer, and the economy is growing. The current labor market is a candidate-driven market, which means that there is a candidate shortage, and they hold more power than the employers. Many employers are reporting difficulty in filling their job openings. This means less competition for jobs and competitive wages. It also means that you’re more likely to stay longer at your next job. Know that you have options, and a gap between jobs doesn’t automatically disqualify you for great opportunities.

Consider consulting or freelance work.

Been meaning to try life as your own boss? About 1 in 10 people in the US workforce is self-employed. Freelance or consulting work has many benefits. It offers a bridge to cover the resume gap since the termination. It provides an opportunity to work on new projects that were not available in your last position. It develops new skills. It allows people who want to change industries a chance to restructure their skills

The drawback of consulting work is that it can take a while to ramp up and build a client base. Much of successful consulting depends on self-marketing. For professionals with a large professional network, it may be a great opportunity. For those who hate the idea of promoting themselves, beware.

One other note: unless your goal is to change industries, stick to consulting in an area that is as close to your ideal full-time job as possible. Job loss can seem like a good time to make a break for it and try out a career as an artist or starting a business in a brand-new industry. In reality, dramatic career changes have a much higher success rate when you prepare for them while you still have a steady income. If you’re absolutely committed to a big change, get a part-time job to cover basic expenses while you ramp up. It will buy you extra time to build up your skills and experience in your new venture.

Commit to making it easier on yourself next time.

Many people are let go through no fault of their own, and are let go even though they have done absolutely nothing wrong. With that said, job searching is stressful and difficult. Once you get back on your feet, there are still steps to take to make the transition easier, if it ever happens again.

Most Americans have less than $1000 in savings. For most households, this is not enough to pay the bills for even a month. Having no back-up plan gives you tighter deadline and shortchanges you potential opportunities. Make a promise to invest in an emergency savings plan once you get back on your feet, and put away enough money to last until the right job comes along, to avoid having to make a decision out of desperation and be stuck in a bad-fitting position for the next few years. Saving is hard, but living on no income is much harder.

Invest in future career goals while you have a job. Stay connected with industry professionals. Stay in touch with what the job market is doing. Know what kind of salaries the industry is paying. Work hard. Develop in-demand skills even when it cuts into free time. Many great employers will invest in training their employees, but in the end, they have a greater responsibility to the business than to their employees’ future career aspirations. Keep your resume updated and list top achievements on it at the end of each year. Compare yourself to people in your industry who have achieved what you want to achieve, and do what they do. Follow in their footsteps.

Many employees don’t take recruiter calls, which means if they lose their jobs, they don’t know the market rate, they don’t have relationships with good recruiters, and they aren’t aware of which skills are in high demand. It pays to take recruiter calls and keep a healthy relationship with a good recruiter, even when you are happy with your current job.

It’s not easy to lose a job. That said, there is a lot of opportunity out there. It can be a time of regrouping, recovering, and recalibrating to better achieve your career goals.

Fresh out of Bucknell University in 2010, I envisioned myself starting my career at a big-name corporation somewhere in New York City or Boston. Instead, I went into insurance and then recruiting and marketing—all in independently-owned agencies and start-up companies. My entrepreneurial bosses have taught me so much about the heart and soul of business. I saw first-hand how a few people with a mission can build something monumental. Working at a young company is full of surprises, good and bad. If you’ve been considering making the jump to start-up life, here’s my checklist for you.

Get the family on board.

At Blue Signal, we say, “Entrepreneurs work 80-hour weeks to avoid the 9-to-5 life.” Freedom from bureaucracy comes at the price of work-life balance. Startup hours are long, unpredictable, and inconvenient. Everyone has to be on board to fix unexpected problems. A good work-life balance is consistently at the top of the list of what today’s top job candidates want, but start-ups are far on the other end of the spectrum. Employees sacrifice precious family time in order to keep the company above water.

Start-up life is hard on the whole family. It means taking calls at all hours and never being able to leave your cell phone at home, even for an hour. It means bringing home your laptop on weekends and holidays. It means work emergencies in the early morning and late at night. It means spending more time with your coworkers than your spouse. It means missing out on time with friends. It means trying to explain to your kid why you have to miss their important event because of work. And even after you put in those long hours, you still aren’t guaranteed a pay raise—or even a steady job.

It’s only fair to your loved ones to get them on board before you make the leap. After all, you’re going to need their emotional support in order to sustain the lifestyle.

Learn to be a bureaucracy champion.

Red tape and bureaucracy are the hallmarks of big companies—in fact, it’s the reason many professionals jump ship and go to a start-up. But don’t join a start-up just because you work better in a chaotic environment. Organization and a process-oriented mindset are even more important in a start-up, because a start-up’s goal is to eventually set up red tape and bureaucracy as it grows.

Getting in on the ground floor of a young company is a delicate balance between thriving in chaos and also hating chaos enough to cut through it and create organization and efficiency. If you have poor time management, a disorganized work style, or struggle with deadlines, a start-up is not the place for you.

No more complaining.

Be honest with yourself on this one. If you like to vent by complaining, start-up life is going to be a hard road. In a start-up culture, everyone has the power to bring the company down. That leaves no room for excuses or slacking. It also means no complaining about working harder or better than a colleague. Believe me—it will happen. Sometimes you will end up pulling someone else’s weight. One day, that same colleague may end up covering for you in the same way. Just like in the military, there is very little room for complaining. Make sure your personality can take the daily realities of what start-up life is like.

Working at a start-up means focusing on the moment, with one eye on the future. Unlike a corporation, it does you no good to brag about the amount of face time and the quantity of hours you put in at the office. What matters is cold, hard results. Without results, the bills don’t get paid, and neither do you. Keep your focus on results, and the start-up life will quickly develop you in your weak areas.

Forget the ping pong table.

See point #1 – start-up hours are long. Perks like a ping-pong table in the lobby are usually distractions that most employees have no time to take advantage of anyway. Instead of trying to gauge how much a start-up company is bucking the trend (espresso machines, on-premises yoga, quirky Twitter account, or whatever), look at how the company is positioned to close real gaps in the market. Beware of fake perks, like “unlimited vacation time,” which usually means employees are too busy to take much time off. And if you do see employees crowded around the ping-pong table, beware—that company’s work ethic probably isn’t great.

The best reason to join a start-up is for the opportunity to develop soft skills and make a difference in a company’s goals. Joining a start-up for the perks is like getting married just for the wedding cake. Focus on what you can give to the company, not what the company is going to do for you.

Look for the boring stuff.

While you’re busy ignoring the ping pong table, pay attention to the boring stuff, like their balance sheet. Forget YoY growth. Really. “Fast-growing” is a totally meaningless statistic. Pay more attention to whether the company is managing its costs well. Ask yourself whether the leadership is organized in such a way that they can scale and still produce successfully. For instance, some owners are technical experts in the product and have to be involved in every sale, which means they don’t have time to run the company if it gets much bigger. Some start-ups set wild goals that have no grounding in reality. Others run purely on instinct and don’t track any of their key numbers.

To get an idea of their perspective on their financials, here are some questions to get the conversation going. They should know their numbers well enough to brag about them. Pay attention to what they say and omit. Beware of any company that makes a big show of secrecy about their finances.

Are their financials in order?

Do they have clear, realistic goals? What goals did they achieve last year?

How are they funded? Does this source of funding make sense?

What metrics do they track?

Do the company leaders have P&L experience?

What happens when the money runs out?

What were their earnings last year? What do they expect this year?

What is their cost of customer acquisition?

Check your ego—somewhat.

Start-ups demand two contradictory things: big ego and no ego. On the one hand, you need enormous confidence, vision, imagination, commitment, and internal motivation. On the other hand, you have to work long, stressful hours in close quarters with other strong personalities and deal with regular setbacks. Conflict is inevitable. Grudges and backbiting will doom a start-up much faster than bad market conditions. In a start-up, your business is everyone’s business, and bad blood spreads quickly through small companies. Start-ups already have a huge set of market challenges to figure out. You might as well not entertain drama within the team as well.

On that same note, set your personal expectations way lower than your vision. For every Mark Zuckerberg, there are thousands of hopeful entrepreneurs still slaving away at their project in their garage. Keep your focus on the company mission, not on making billions of dollars and buying a private island in the Caribbean.

Get used to being a science experiment.

In a start-up, everyone is learning the best way to do things. Each colleague will bring a different background and set of experiences, and they won’t always jive. Not only that, many start-up owners are first-time managers, and they have to grapple with many huge tasks, from setting goals, to keeping team morale high, to making all major decisions, to paying the bills, to disrupting major markets. Insisting on the old way of doing things is not a helpful tactic for anyone involved.

Start-ups do a lot of experimenting with customers, pitches, processes, management styles, and more. This includes the employees. Be flexible. Sometimes even a bad idea can inspire a game-changer.

Work your heart out, but prepare to fail anyway.

Everyone at my last company loved their job, but the company grew too fast and ended up letting people go during a very difficult time. Life isn’t fair, and start-ups reflect that. Sometimes, even when everyone works hard and gives their all, things don’t work out. A major client cancels, a key deal falls through, supplier costs spike, or unfriendly legislation passes in an important market region. While it is possible to be the victim of a lay-off whether you work for a big corporation or a small start-up, start-ups have a high failure rate, and you can’t always predict it ahead of time.

On the bright side, a high failure rate is a sign of a healthy market, and a healthy market is full of opportunity. Many of the biggest and best companies are started by people who have experienced major failures. People who have weathered failure often have a better work ethic and a richer perspective on life than people who have never taken risks. The founders of Tesla, Facebook, and AirBnB each built hugely successful multibillion-dollar companies out of start-ups, and they all went through failure before hitting the big-time. Keep your timeline short and realistic, and have a plan B.

Practice reinventing yourself.

Working for a start-up is an opportunity to reinvent who you are as a professional. This is a chance that many fast-tracked corporate professionals never have. In a small company, each employee has much more of a stake. This responsibility takes courage and flexibility. Each person has the chance to work on a wide range of responsibilities and develop new skills that they would never have access to as part of a large team. If an experiment fails, there is often a chance to tweak the plan and try again down the road. Be willing to open up your focus, instead of laser-focusing on one niche area. If your goal is to develop highly specialized industry skills, make sure that it relates directly to the start-up’s niche, because you likely will need to juggle many varied responsibilities as an employee.

Start-up life is challenging, but it will teach you things you can’t learn anywhere else. It is a place where your voice is heard and your work is critical. When you succeed, you know that it was directly tied to your hard work. There are many reasons not to join a start-up. The risk of failure is high, the hours are long, and the work is hard. But the fact that millions of people take the chance is proof that the risk is worth it.